Readers say laminating your COVID-19 vaccination card may not be best idea: Here's why
Amy HuschkaOn second thought, maybe laminating your COVID-19 vaccine card isn't the greatest idea.
Sure, laminating your original vaccination card will preserve it, but is it safe?
"We were advised NOT to laminate our vaccination cards in case we need a booster shot to add to the other two vaccinations," said snowbird Leah Bisel from West Bloomfield.
Bisel, who lives part of the year in Boynton Beach, Florida, and got vaccinated in Florida, said she made copies of her vaccination card and will keep the original in a "safe place."
However, she will likely laminate a copy of the card.
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Other folks are seeing issues with the ink used on vaccination cards.
Russ Ayers of Oak Park got vaccinated at Beaumont, but the ink on his vaccination card disintegrated when he got it laminated.
"The nurse who wrote on my card used a pen with ink that totally, without (a) trace, disappeared when I had it laminated at Office Depot," Ayers said.
The clerk at Office Depot had him sign a waiver, Ayers said.
"She said sometimes the ink disappears from the heat of lamination," he said.
"Good thing I … took a picture, front and back, of our cards," Ayers said.
Ayers said his wife's card, also laminated, was fine. She also got vaccinated at Beaumont, on a different day and location.
"My wife's card of a different time, with different ink, was OK," he said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended keeping your vaccination card in case you need it for future use. And to consider taking a picture of your vaccination card as a backup copy. That's it. Nothing about making copies. Nothing about laminating.
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services also recommends taking a photo, but stopped short of saying not to laminate.
"It should not be an issue to laminate," said Lynn Sutfin, Public Information Officer at MDHHS.
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Free Press reader John Cipoletti suggests using clear packing tape to cover the front and back rather than laminating. Another reader suggests putting vaccination cards in a plastic sleeve.
But the majority of readers suggested not to laminate your actual vaccination card. Instead, just make a copy of it, maybe on sturdy card stock, and keep that copy in your wallet.
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Whatever you decide to do with your vaccination card, just keep it safe.
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Contact Amy Huschka: ahuschka@freepress.com or follow her on Twitter (@aetmanshuschka).